P156KWJ
Established Member
Well then....
Today (Easter Sunday) was the first day of public service at the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) and has taken a lot of time, effort and money to get it all going. On hire whilst our 2 kettles are away for boiler repairs, a Peckett & Sons 0-6-0, built in 1942 designed for hauling heavy iron ore (hence the top speed being only 15mph
) and was in use with 2x mk1s and a mk2BSO. At 0630 this morning, a team of three arrive to light the fire and see the day they've been waiting for. At 0800, I arrived to help do the last bit of cleaning, and to help prepare the coaching stock. Unfortunately a forgetful Nathan the fireman forgot the carriage key he was going to give me, because I am fed up of using screwdrivers to get in to the cupboards :mad:. At about 1000, the Peckett and coaching stock were joined, then seperated (suppose we ought to put the coal in first :roll:
After a troublesome class 08 had cleared the platform road, the train was now ready for service. But there was one problem: No water in the coaches (again). It appeared the nozzle on the hose had gone walkies, and after trawling through the shed, I found the darn thing on another hose!! After overfilling the mk1s with water and getting the platform more wet, we were ready for the off.
1100: After hours of hard work, countless cups of tea, and an uncalculable amount of swearing and cursing, the first public train of 2008 left Ruddington. Thanks to the S&T gang, our semaphore arm and colour lights protecting the level crossing have now been re-wired after vandals torched Asher Lane signal cabin last year.
1125: Rushcliffe Halt arrival, kid gets scared by the massive fire in the firebox :???:
1130: Guard trys in vain to get passengers back on to train, after about 3 minutes :roll: we're off again.
Basically, this was repeated all 5 times. Not so grand really, but a job well done
and all trains left / arrived either early or on time 
Today (Easter Sunday) was the first day of public service at the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) and has taken a lot of time, effort and money to get it all going. On hire whilst our 2 kettles are away for boiler repairs, a Peckett & Sons 0-6-0, built in 1942 designed for hauling heavy iron ore (hence the top speed being only 15mph
) and was in use with 2x mk1s and a mk2BSO. At 0630 this morning, a team of three arrive to light the fire and see the day they've been waiting for. At 0800, I arrived to help do the last bit of cleaning, and to help prepare the coaching stock. Unfortunately a forgetful Nathan the fireman forgot the carriage key he was going to give me, because I am fed up of using screwdrivers to get in to the cupboards :mad:. At about 1000, the Peckett and coaching stock were joined, then seperated (suppose we ought to put the coal in first :roll:After a troublesome class 08 had cleared the platform road, the train was now ready for service. But there was one problem: No water in the coaches (again). It appeared the nozzle on the hose had gone walkies, and after trawling through the shed, I found the darn thing on another hose!! After overfilling the mk1s with water and getting the platform more wet, we were ready for the off.
1100: After hours of hard work, countless cups of tea, and an uncalculable amount of swearing and cursing, the first public train of 2008 left Ruddington. Thanks to the S&T gang, our semaphore arm and colour lights protecting the level crossing have now been re-wired after vandals torched Asher Lane signal cabin last year.
1125: Rushcliffe Halt arrival, kid gets scared by the massive fire in the firebox :???:
1130: Guard trys in vain to get passengers back on to train, after about 3 minutes :roll: we're off again.
Basically, this was repeated all 5 times. Not so grand really, but a job well done
and all trains left / arrived either early or on time